THE second half of the stock car season commenced at the Cowdenbeath Racewall last Saturday night in showery conditions which left the drivers to cope with a wet and greasy track, writes Jim Turner.

Although the rain stopped from time to time there was never a chance of the track drying leaving the drivers to take to the outside line to find grip – at least the brave ones did!

It was all change at the Racewall with the MASCARS and the GP Midgets having their annual trip north of the border whilst the Junior MASCARs were having their first outing at the Racewall and were joined by the 2 Litre hot rods and the microF2s.

However, the GP Midgets was dominated by Daniel Pooley who won all three races including the Tourist Trophy whilst ex-formula II driver Martin Lamb won the MASCAR final despite being in a shunt during the second heat.

MASCARS are 2/3rd scale cars of the American NASCARs and are powered by Yamaha1300cc motorbike engines and look very similar to the real cars.

The first of their heats saw Dean Stimson drive through the field to win from Stuart Simmons and Steve Stanford. In heat two Stimson was on his way to another win when he was caught by a back marker, spun and collected second placed Lamb who crashed into the wall. The race was suspended with Stimson managing to take up his place at the front of the grid and after making a good restart went on to win from Juli Stanford and Simmons. Lamb was back out for the final and whilst Stimson appeared he left the grid when his suspension broke.

The grid for the final saw the cars do a couple of laps prior to the green flag dropping with Steve Tooley going straight into the lead from Dean Ashton, whilst at the rear of the field Lamb took his car to the outside line where he found grip, remembering this fact from his days in the formula IIs, and started to make progress through the field.

Tooley had a big lead but by lap 8 Lamb was in second before closing the gap to Tooley. Four laps later Lamb was ahead and pulling away. Tooley was being caught by Karl Baker whilst J. Stanford and Robert Carr tangled on the back straight and spun. Lamb reeled off the remaining laps to win from Baker who moved into second during the closing stages with Tooley in third.

The MASCARS, which are half scale NASCARs and are for drivers between 8 and 16, were dominated by Corben Lord who won all three races even although he started almost a lap adrift of the white graders. In heat one he won from Olly Turner and Nicole McIntosh whilst in heat two the latter was clipped and spun as Lord led home Turner and Beth Hall. The final proved to be a repeat of heat two with Lord a runaway winner finishing clear of Turner and Hall.

The GP Midgets were racing for their Tourist trophy and were a mixture of front and rear engine cars. The opening heat was stopped after Nick Price crashed into the pit bend wall. Heat one saw D Pooley grab the lead early on before going on to win from David Bonser and Jonathan Pooley. Heat two saw the first three finish in the same order. When the final started Neil Clarke went straight into the lead from Jack Hodges and Mark Hodges but D. Pooley soon caught them and made short work of getting ahead of them. Pooley quickly opened up a gap and by the time that Bonser appeared in second he was well clear. Shortly after that J. Pooley appeared in third but the first three drivers had substantial gaps and that’s how they finished.

The 2 litre hot rod drivers were having their second outing at the Racewall but after practice Alex Wilson was loaded up after an incident when there was contact on the track. Derek Duff (Cupar) was having a run in Gordon Alexander’s second car whilst local drivers were Scott Gilfillan (Kelty), Paul Carruthers (Kirkcaldy) and Keith Chesher (Dunfermline).

The opening heat saw Wullie Hill go through to win from Gilfillan, Carruthers and Chesher with Duff in seventh place. In heat two in very wet conditions, Kerr Paterson took his car to the outside of the track and simply drove around the others and into the lead before going through to win by a big margin from Ryan Mackie, Chesher and Carruthers with Duff in eighth.

When the final started Gilfillan took the lead from Carruthers but they were soon to be caught by Hill. Paterson again moved to the outside of the track and began to pick up places on a regular basis. Hill moved into the lead as Carruthers spun and then Mackie spun on the back straight. Paterson’s progress was rapid and he was soon in the lead with Gilfillan also spinning on the back straight. Alexander moved into second with Jock Campbell taking over third but Paterson was well clear by this time before picking up his second win of the night. With Chesher fifth, Duff sixth, Carruthers eighth and Gilfillan ninth The MicroF2s were having another run with Terri Linden winning three of the races and seemed well on her way to a clean sweep only for her car to slow and she had to retire handing the win to Kai Gilmour.

There were a few Scottish drivers down at Northampton for the weekend which was to culminate with the European Championship which Barry Goldin was to defend. On Saturday night Gordon Moodie won his heat whilst George MacMillan Jnr picked up a sixth and Liam Rennie a seventh. Chris Burgoyne then won one of the consolation races whilst Raymond Dick was 11th in the other consolation race. Moodie went on to win the final with MacMillan Jnr 11th and Burgoyne 12th but then MacMillan Jnr rounded off a good night’s racing by winning the GN. On Sunday Moodie went on to win the European Championship where he led home James Rygor, Neil Hooper and MacMillan Jnr.

Frankie Wainman Jnr won the formula 1 European Championship where he led home his brother Danny.

This Saturday the formula IIs are back in action along with the saloons and they are to be joined on the track by the stock rods whilst the ministox are contesting one of their summer season rounds. As usual it’s a 6.00pm start.